Govt clears Rs 4,722 crore worth FDI proposals

In an attempt to cement India's position as the world's top destination for foreign direct investment (FDI), the government has approved another 16 foreign investment proposals worth Rs 4,722 crore.

Approval for the FDI proposals, including those related to HDFC Capital and Ageon Religare Life Insurance Company, were given after a recommendation by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das.

"The government has approved 16 proposals of foreign direct investment amounting to Rs 4,722 crore," PTI quoted a statement from the Finance Ministry as saying.

India emerged as the top destination for FDI in the first half of the year, surpassing China and the US. The country saw capital inflows to the tune of $31 billion during January-June period, while China and the US attracted investments of $28 billion and $27 billion respectively, according to a report by The Financial Times.

FDI proposals of Cipla Health Limited and Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited were among 8 proposals rejected by the government.

The FDI proposal related to HDFC Capital Advisors Limited is alone worth Rs 2,400 crore of the total FDI cleared by the investment board.

"HDFC Fund proposes to make investments in equity, equity linked instruments, redeemable preference shares, non-convertible debentures and other debt securities of listed or unlisted investee companies engaged in real estate construction development projects which are permitted under the SEBI AIF Regulations as a Cateqory II AIF," it said.

The foreign investment proposals of Sun Pharma Research Advanced Company Ltd worth Rs 250 crore, Synergia Life Sciences Pvt Ltd's worth Rs 40 crore and Aditya Birla Nuvo's Rs 377 crore were among those that were approved by the board.